Simon shares his knowledge on UNEA-5.2, the second half of UNEP’s biennial United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEA functions as the world’s parliament on the environment, where global environment ministers congregate to debate and decide on priorities of environmental concern in the context of nation states and the global community. Due to COVID-19, the event was divided into two halves with the first part taking place almost entirely online in early 2021, and the second half shortly taking place at the end of February 2022.

Some key questions covered:

• What is UNEA? How is it different from other environment conferences, like the climate  COP?
• What should we expect from UNEA5.2 at the end of February?
• Which issues at UNEA5.2 are particularly contentious?

To learn more about the 5th session of UNEA, please visit:

• IGES’ UNEA-5.2 Special Webpage: https://www.iges.or.jp/en/projects/unea5-2
• IGES’ UNEA-5.1 Special Webpage: https://www.iges.or.jp/en/projects/unea5-1

About our co-hosts:

Andre Mader leads the IGES unit on Biodiversity and Forests and is adviser to an IPBES Technical Support Unit hosted by IGES.  He has a background in conservation management, science and policy, and has practiced mostly in Switzerland, Canada, the UAE, and his land of birth, South Africa.

Bob McDonald leads our Technology Solutions unit at IGES.  He has decades of experience in IT and Web Development, but is an interested outsider when it comes to environmental issues.  He loves making stuff, both physical and digital.

Erin Kawazu is a Programme Coordinator in Knowledge Management and Communications, Strategic Management Office at IGES.  Her background is in environmental health sciences, a field that combines environmental science and public health. Off work, she can be found reading books on her ancient Kindle Keyboard, journaling, and struggling to self-teach the guitar.

Simon Høiberg Olsen is Research Manager at IGES. His areas of interest include environmental governance, civic engagement, social justice and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). He has a Master’s Degree in Southeast-Asian studies from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Policy from the Central European University, Hungary. In his free time he enjoys gardening, woodworking and repair.

"About Sustainability..." is a podcast brought to you by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), an environmental policy think-tank based in Hayama, Japan. IGES experts are concerned with environmental and sustainability challenges. Everything shared on the podcast will be off-the-cuff discussion, and any viewpoints expressed are those held by the speaker at the time of recording. They are not necessarily official IGES positions.